grand prix supercharger oil

[trowel2000]

I read in my owners manual that my supercharger oil should be checked and/or changed at 30,000 miles. I currently have approx. 60,000 miles on my 2002 grand prix gtp. I checked with two dealers in my area who say that they have never or hardly ever change supercharger oil. One gave me a quote of $327.40 to change the oil and the other gave me a quote of $275.00 to change the oil. They said you had to completely take the supercharger off the engine to change the oil. Does anyone have any reccomendations for what I should do because both prices seem a little rediculous to me to change a small amount of oil? Is it possable for someone with average or above average mechanical skills to do theirselves?

[T-Keith]

Change it yourself. GM recomends topping it off every 30,000 but dealers seem to be totally lost on it.

What ever you do make sure to use GM supercharger fluid, don't be convinced into trying anything else, it requires a special fluid. To top it off simply pull the plug by the neck of the supercharger with an allen wrench and fill to the hole. To change it you would just have to suck the old fluid out with a long neck squeeze bottle or a vacuum pump.

If a dealer told you $250+ to change it run the other way.

[GMCSonoma]

My dealer will check it as part of a "30K service", it comes in an 4 once bottle, the supercharger holds 8oz, each bottle costs $6.83.

[trowel2000]

Hey, thanks guys I really appreciate the help. I thought $275.00 sounded way to much. I will look into doing that. And anymore suggestions I would be glad to hear.

[GMCSonoma]

A turkey baster also works, kind of, for sucking out fluid, you'll need a piece of hose too, that too can work, but as T-Keith said, a good suction gun its a good investment if you do service work yourself.

[jd4548]

I've seen supercharged 3.8's with the original oil in them at over 100,000 miles and they have no problems at all. It still wouldn't hurt to check the level though.

[chev454ls]

Supercharger oil is one of the foulest smelling things that will ever come near your car. Like the others said, do it yourself, the stealership would be making a killing if they did it for you at $275.

[trowel2000]

Thanks a lot for all the advise. I just purchased the oil from the dealership and went to the Mac tools man and bought a suction pump. I plan on changing the oil this weekend. One more thing, the dealership couldn't even tell me how much oil it would take so I went with GMCSonoma's advise and got 8oz. Thanks again everybody.

[Ghrankenstein]

Originally Posted by jd4548

I've seen supercharged 3.8's with the original oil in them at over 100,000 miles and they have no problems at all. It still wouldn't hurt to check the level though.

Back at the Buick store, I saw way too many Regal GS's and Park Avenue Ultra's with 60-70k on them, needing new engines. I definitely recommending doing that supercharger maintenance.

Ghrank

[T-Type]

From my personal experience - I never changed the supercharger oil in my Bonneville. I only found out that the supercharger had special oil around 70,000 miles. When I checked it it was pretty low, so I filled it up. But I never had a problem with the supercharger, and the car is now over 107,000 miles.

BTW Ghrank, if the supercharger locked up, it wouldn't kill the engine. The car would probably be undriveable, but the motor should be OK. If those cars needed new motors, I doubt it was because of a wasted supercharger.

[Ghrankenstein]

Originally Posted by T-Type

BTW Ghrank, if the supercharger locked up, it wouldn't kill the engine. The car would probably be undriveable, but the motor should be OK. If those cars needed new motors, I doubt it was because of a wasted supercharger.

Again, I did see an inordinate number of supercharged Buicks in our shop; I'm just going on what the techs said in passive asking. Perhaps they were getting away with unnecessary work, I dunno.

Ghrank

[T-Type]

That's odd... unless perhaps the supercharger fails by disentegrating, sending metal shrapnel down the intake. That could take out a motor.

[GMCSonoma]

I've only sold maybe 2 or 3 3800 superchargers that I can recall, I think because of a grinding noise?, and that was many moons ago now! I personally haven't seen any catastrphohic damage to a 3800 S/C engine, period!

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

I drove a particular '98 Grand Prix GTP with the supercharger belt missing for a while...

Didn't even notice, car drove fine... Opened hood and noticed there was a little
"problem" - changed belt and somehow I began to want this car...

[69nova]

I would follow the manufacturer's instructions to the "T". The supercharger is not part of the recirculating oil system so it has a captive amount that lubes the housing. We build a piece of equipment that is similar and, believe me, even though the gears and bearings are over engineered, the type of oil and level is so critical. Too much oil will cause the oil to foam up and you will have overheating problems leading to premature failure. Add or change with the wrong oil and you will see overheated bearings in no time.